A small thing in a big city
With all the lovely things about Portland that I go on about all the time, there is one little thing that has been nipping at my heels like your neighbors' overly aggressive little dogs. And it's kind of a catch 22: with the great weather during the summer, great roads, and how convenient everything is, there are SOME bicycle riders that think they run the road. I'm getting a little tired of the rude cyclists, especially in the downtown area.
Some mornings I'll take my girl to work and I have ruuuuuuude experiences with bikers. Now, I know I'm driving a car, which is not exactly earth-friendly, but that doesn't mean that I'm not also trying to enjoy Portland's beautiful weather.
Some people on bikes think the roads are theirs and that they should be directing traffic rather than adhering to the laws of the American road system. In the next few years, I think there are going to be even more cyclists than cars on the roads so this should get worked out.
Basically, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I'm not trying to hit you. But you still have to stop at the stop signs. I just want you to use your little hand signals so I know where you're going. If not, I'm going to be forced to use harsh language like "shoot" and "frick."
So, if you see me driving around in my car, just be nice to me.
For Dre
Well, it's good that I’ve had a chance to get back on a plane. I took almost a month off from flying and traveling to really get my body right for the upcoming season in the Portland area and I enjoyed every minute.
This was a special occasion: my best friend ex-teammate Andre Iguodala’s celebrity weekend in SPRINGFIELD, Illinois. Yes, Springfield. I knew that it was going to be a rough trip but I kept telling myself that it’s for a great cause and it's your boy and he’d do it for you, which he did coming to my golf tourney in AZ.
So, my flight was to take off at 5:10 in the morning. Yes 5:10 am. I woke up at 4:20. Luckily, I planned ahead. Not having too much to pack, I started off on my voyage. When I got Lasik surgery I noticed that in the mornings after waking up my eyes are dry and I would have sun spots. It also occurs when you're dehydrated, which I was because of all the working out that I’ve been doing these past few weeks.
So, me sitting at the airport at 4:35 am, I can barely see, almost frantically trying to find some water to drink to hydrate not only my aching muscles, but my eyeballs. After about ten minutes I was good to go, back to 20/10. I rubbed my eyes looking at the board to tell me that we should be on time, and the worst thing that you can see is DELAYED, which my flight was. It wasn’t gonna take off until 6:45 so I sat there.
I prayed to God for a miracle and what happened? Free internet in the PDX airport. The time blew by. I looked at all the funny videos from the letter-opening bunny to the daily condensed soup, which I recommend for everyone to watch -- it's hilarious.
I get on the plane sit in my nice comfortable 1st class seat and to my dismay the “bubble gut monster” arose his bubbly badness inside my stomach. What I mean is that I had to lay down a huge fart. If we were outside in the woods or maybe at an all-guys party I would have tore a hole in the universe but I had to hold it. Too many people too soon and I knew it was gonna smell.
As we all do, you just squeeze and hlde it except the flight is 3:30 hrs long. I was in for it. I tried drinking more water. At the exact moment I felt my stomach really start to hurt and from me holding it too long, also giving me a headache, it was the last straw. There was no one in the seat next to me so I was gonna let it ride. I asked the stewardess for two blankets to tame the stinky beast that was about to be let loose on the world. I acted like I was falling asleep, positioning, and...as if God had the best sense of humor ever, a man sits down looking at me straight in my eyes. I have to abort mission. Alpha bravo team cancel that operation.
I knew he knew I was a basketball player just looking at me smiling wanted to talk about something so bad I could see his body language look for any opening. I wouldn’t give him any. I put the two blankets over my head and fell asleep hard waking up to move around, adjusting my poor intestine, holding all that stinky air. I was mad. Compound that with exhausted from being up so early and you have a grouchy 7-fter.
When I woke up he looked at me almost like he had been staring at me the whole 2:30 I had slept. I was sorta creeped out, but took no mind to it. I grabbed a piece of gum. I knew my breath was gonna be minty fresh. I offered him some, being polite, not knowing I was gonna release the bubonic plague upon my nostrils.
The only thing I can think of that would compare to the stir fry of terribleness that was his breath, would be when you leave old broccoli and lettuce in the fridge for a couple months, if you can imagine that. I was shocked, gagging for any type of untainted air. I offered again like “are you sure, I have plenty.” He was sure. Maybe next time I need to have a slew of flavors for him.
I knew I was in for trouble when he started asking me questions about basketball. It’s a funny situation when people try and talk to you about basketball but they don’t know any of the terminology. I don’t mind usually, but today he was just off. His questions went something like this, "so … you guys have a lot of human acquisitions this year?” I'm thinking to myself, what does that mean, “oh, the draft, yeah, we drafted a couple good guys this year.”
He asked me: how many years you been playing? I responded two in NYC and this is gonna be my 2nd year in Portland. To my amazement I have never had anyone ask me this he said "how many years you have left, 2 or 3?” I was taken aback by that one so I gave him a smart-ass answer. I said, naw, 12-13 yrs probably.” He didn’t know what to say and thank goodness it gave me a chance to turn the little fans on above me to full blast. This pattern continued for another 10 minutes until the plane was about to land.
After getting off the plane, I ever-so-cool strolled around until I finally reached my next plane which was a little dinky one. The flight to Springfield is only 27 mins. The greatest things about that situation is that I got a chance to walk outside, where if not for the loud airplane engine's roaring blowing wind everywhere, my fart would have really left a bad taste in peoples mouths (LITERALLY). I felt better though. My head started not to hurt.
So I get on this plane that must've been made for small people because I had to bend all the way over even to get in. While I was inside I felt like I was inside a kiddie tunnel chasing some kids around. When I sat down I was praying hard that I didn’t have to sit next to anyone because even though I was in the bulkhead seat it wasn’t doing me any good. I could catch a hard case of tendinitis sitting in that crunchy seat with another human being. Luckily I do Pilates and I'm somewhat limber.
To my horror the other biggest human being had my other seat (he was 6’2", stocky, 195) so we gave each other the death stare because we were both thinking the same thing. After five minutes of us both moving our legs around like members of Cirque du Soleil, the lovely stewardess had even more lovely news for us. “Excuse me, sir," (she was speaking to the three biggest guys who happen to be sitting in the three best seats), "we're going to have to ask you guys to move to the back because of the weight distribution."
So looking back to the little dinky plane, I said, hey, at least I can get my own row (which in retrospect is one normal seat). Once we got back there, no lie, it was a smell not as bad as dragon breath from the other flight but almost as bad as making a cologne from an old porta potty. I looked around in dismay as all my senses started to shut down due to the shock of the wee wee smell. The other guys around me already had shirts over there noses.
I thought that we were getting attacked by someone using biological weapons. A porta-potty bomb was dropped on the back of this plane going to Springfield. I was like, if Andre wasn’t my best friend man, I would have walked off that plane and went back home. LOL. When the stewardess came she came about three rows before me, that’s six rows before the bathroom and she was like “woah, that smells” and I said yeah, like hot horse piss, lol, the fellow outcast. I definitely got a laugh from that.
She locked the door almost like there was some type of monster inside. She put locks on the door that I've never seen on a plane and sprayed air freshener. I’m surprised she didn’t light a match, lol. Well, I figured let me try and catch up on some sleep before I have to go play in this game, me not knowing how I was going to play. Big guys usually aren’t the most exciting guys in the world to have at celebrity games. We land like a metal albatross. If you don’t know how they land, look it up on You Tube, lol.
I emerge from the airplane with one thing in mind, to enjoy my time in Springfield, which I definitely did. Our team won. I got MVP. I had 4 pts at half, then ended up with 33. I decided to try out my new toys and that’s the 3-point bombs, which I was droppin' like they were tic-tacs in the magma-mouthed dude on the 1st plane.
I really had a good time. There were a lot of great people who came out to support him and hopefully he can do some really good things for his community. I know he will.
So, thanks to Andre for having me and Ill try and keep my reign of MVP next year.
Training & More Questions
Some people have asked about my training. I've started boxing and doing pilates to get my body in the best form and shape possible. It's extremely important to work on my skill sets and athleticism so I can be as flexible and explosive as I can be.
I'm working out five days a week, staying focused, and doing the right things.
During the summer I have a chance to answer comments a lot better. Any questions or opinions you want me to address, please write before season starts.
Best and Worst
Ok, I am curious now that the season and playoffs are over, I'd like to hear from the readers: who is your favorite player? Doesn’t have to be an All Star. Could be whoever. And, who do you absolutely
despise? I'm curious to read your posts.
One of my bday presents
OK, I really have to say I appreciated all the comments people wrote in to tell me what I could do for my bday. But the funny thing was I've been to almost all of those places. I've been to the bowling place. I've been to those bars. Renting the Portland Spirit out is for a later party.
I loved the comments though. It shows me that I've still got some exploring to do. And, I'm not gonna go into details, but we did WIG out on my bday. All my friends came out from PHX and we had an absolute blast.
There was one gift that my girlfriend gave me, and just for the people out there, no I didn’t write that last blog about date night for any other reason than just because it was on my mind. My girlfriend is seriously the most confident, independent women I've ever met. To think that she would need me to write her a blog is a little ridiculous. And if you have a comment whether it's good or not, please understand that kids read these blogs. So keep the cussing, and calling me gay, etc. etc. down to a minimum. If you want to cuss, use %&&(($ symbols. Lol.
But anyway, my girl got me the sickest electric guitar and her mom got me a ridiculous amp, so I've been trying to learn how to play guitar. (Yes, I know that I do a lot of things during the summer: fishing, golfing, now learning how to play the guitar but, hey, it keeps me busy.)
I've been watching a lot of You Tube videos on how to play but finally I sucked it up and went and bought a how-to-play-guitar for dummies book, lol. So maybe next year you might hear me play a ridiculous riff on the radio or something, lol.
Ok, enough. I wanted to know who people think is the best guitarist of all time. My personal opinion is Jimi Hendrix; just pure talent, skill, and passion. Who do you pick?
My summer vacation…so far…
Well, I figure everyone is a little curious as to what I've done in my month off since the end of the season. It's almost funny to think about what happens to me after the season - such a fast transition between two polar-opposite lifestyles.
The 1st being, during the season and a couple months before, everything is focused solely on basketball. My day revolves around it. Everything is scheduled out. All energy is focused on that.
As soon as the season is over, nothing. I did absolutely nothing but sit around the house and just sleep. I slept a lot and watched a lot of TV and played a lot of video games. Well, that lasted about a week.
The next week I started to go crazy because I was so used to having something to do or somewhere to go. So I decided to start doing work around the house and let me tell you: If any man has never been to Ikea on a Saturday, please, I beg you for your own sanity, don’t go. It is a zoo. I'd never been inside that place and I hope never to go back. I'll order what I need off the Internet catalog. It was pandemonium out there, but I survived. It was so funny. I never thought that a day full of shopping with my girl would be so tiring. I never go to Home Depot or Ikea or Bed, Bath n Beyond; it's just not my thing. Well, that was week two.
This past week has been my busiest, yet one of the best. Where have I been and/or why wasn’t I listening when people told me about GOLFING? Holy crap, I have caught the golf fever. I played 3 times last week - Tues, Wed, Thurs.
The 1st day, I hadn’t received my custom-made clubs yet, but played none the less with some good buds of mine, Jake and Justin. They invited me out to play with them at Langdon Farms, which is just a beautiful course. The people there were so nice and extremely professional. The course whooped my butt, but I loved it.
My dad is a huge golfer and loves playing. Whenever he would come home from golfing, he'd always be moaning and groaning about how sore and tired he was. I always gave him a hard time like, man, golf is not tiring at all … was I wrong! We played 18 holes that day with a cart and when we got done around 4 o'clock, I felt like my body had been hit with a heavy bag of marbles. It was amazing to me how playing a different sport, different little muscles get very sore. It was new, but I had to play again the next day.
On Wednsday, I made a few calls and the people at the Pumpkin Ridge golf course graciously allowed me and my two comrades to play on their course. Let me tell you, whoever reads this, that that is one of the greatest golf courses I've ever seen in my life. I understand why PGA tour comes through there and we got the pleasure of playing with one of the pros of the club, Kelly.
If you're ever up there and want to play with a ex-O State football player who plays golf like it's nobody's business, I recommend him. Oh, forgot to mention that before we played on that great course, I picked up my custom made golf clubs from Nike, which felt like heaven compared to the normal clubs. New clubs 'n all, I still stunk up the course, but I had glimpses of potential that comes with having a 7-ft wingspan and some extremely nice clubs.
Again, at the end of the day of playing at such a great course, even in a cart, I was beat. It wasn’t even just physically, it was mentally, too. I have such a respect for the golfers on the PGA tour now, it's amazing.
Finally, on the 3rd day, I played at the Lake Oswego Country Club golf course with my good friend who lives out here, Brian. His girlfriend's dad invited him and I out there to play. Again, I think I had the privilege of playing the 3 best golf courses in Oregon. Hopefully, when I get some more time in between working out and taking care of some other man-stuff, I can get some lessons.
I have a golf tournament coming up at the end of June so I really need to step my game up. Also, I'm doing the Caddies for the Cure up here with my friend Ryan from Nike Golf, and I def don’t want to embarrass myself with that serious crew of legit golfers.
Well, that’s all that has happened lately. I'll keep you informed.
Celebrations
Look, to everyone who reads my blog, I'm turning 25 on May 17. Yes, I'm gonna be a quarter of a century and I'm kinda excited about it.
Me being 24 has been some of the best months of my life: I met my girlfriend; I finally found a nice place to live; I've met some friends I'm gonna have for the rest of my life; and last but not least, I've grown up a lot mentally, physically, and spiritually.
So I need to have a really tight place or some fine things to do on my b-day. It’s the day after my best friend's wedding. Congrats Ben Diggles and Tracy Diggles! Yes that’s really their last name -- go check out his website. It's actually hilarious. I try and read it whenever he puts something new up: MrDiggles.com
So really guys, please send me your ideas. I want to know what I should do and I will be in Portland. It has to be something that we can do that’s not too expensive. I'm a penny pincher, by the way. So send your info my way.
My ride
Hey! I finally got my 1965 Lincoln Continental convertible and I wanted to know if there was like a day or night when a bunch of other old schools gather.
Someone named Manny sent this one of me (thanks for sending, Manny) and here's another:
I want to see some classics and see how my RIzzziiidddeee compares, and no, I don’t think I'm gonna change the tires or very much on it other than a tint and maybe a re-black paint job. So if you know let me know or if you have a picture of your old school I want to see. I think the other readers would want to see too.
Retractions and Additions
Ok, so everyone in Sacramento! I have to say I was wrong; there is hope for your city. And hope's name is Kevin Johnson.
While I was on our last trip out there I had a great chance to meet him and to sit down to talk to him about not only what his plan is for helping Sacramento become one of the best cities in America, but about how he got involved in politics and some of the things that he's already done for Sacramento.
First of all, I have to give props to the guy who set it all up, Chris Bowles. He's Director of Player Extracurricular Actvities -- that’s not realy his title, but that's what he does. He finds things that are gonna expand our mind and spirit.
He understands that we are seen in the public eye as JUST basketball players, but he challenges us to learn about not only our history as NBA players but as Americans. I feel like his energy to learn has really had an effect on me because I'm starting to understand the advantages we have as basketball players and as Americans who can educate ourselves and learn as much as we can because fame 'n fourtune can only take you so far.
Knowledge is the real power. Everything anybody would ever want to know is in a book. That’s something I learned this year too. It's almost funny. People say what's the key to life? or why am I not getting the job I want? or why do I only date bad girls or boys? Go to a book store or libraray and read about people who had your same problem and you might learn a thing or two.
Of course I don’t read enough for y'all who are saying I think Channing is full of BS. But I do know that when I do want to learn something new, I know where to find it, LOL.
Ok, so that was a little off the subject, but anyway, I went to a dinner and a fundraiser for Kevin Johnson. We had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of kids at dinner from a charter school that KJ had started called PS 7 and from the joint highschool, Sac High. I was thourougly impressed. Seriously, I've never met a bunch of kids varying in grades 6th through 12th who had such a vast knowledge of business and how schools are run and about American politics. I was almost uncomfortable talking to them because I didn’t know as much as they did.
James Jones talked to them about how he wants to start his own charter school and elaborated on why he wanted to do it. One of the older ladies had a question. I'm thinking that she’s gonna ask a simple question like "what colors are you gonna have" or "are you gonna have a sports team" as a long shot. Or "Have you talked to your board of education directors?" and that was a serious longshot.
The question that she asked was, "What is your school going do to promote economic growth in whatever city its going to be in?" I was in shock. It was the best question I've ever heard from anybody. It really set the mood for the other kids and they really just picked James' brain like a 2-year old digs in his nose for boogers.
I sat there for 130 just in awe of their acknowledgement of the situation that they're young kids of color coming from a not so good area but they wanted to change the world even if it's one grade at a time. They had goals. They had dreams. And they definitely had steps to get there.
Seriously, I wish them the best and I really feel like it's important for me now in my life to get a little more political, so in my next few blogs I might give my opinion on who I want to win the presidential race and why. Actually, the correct term is who I want to endorse. I'm not just gonna say I want this person to win because of a popularity contest. I want to learn their views so I'm gonna have to get a book or get on the Net and research. Now season is over, so shoot, I should have plenty of time.
Basketball Season
Well, I know a lot of people want to ask me why some games I play, some I don’t, etc., etc. Well, to be frank: it's life. I mean, even though the game is extremely simple in nature, the NBA is infinitely complex.
So, I could throw out a million scenarios about what's going on with me or the team or whatever. But it comes down to this: I'm 24 years old, this is my 3rd year in the NBA. I'm finally embracing the type of game that I'm going to need to have, and the type of work ethic that I'm going to need to have, to not only survive, but to thrive, in this league.
It’s a business, and sometimes you need a harsh reminder of the seriousness of that. For me to play more, is for me to continue to be a consistent worker. Not only in the weight room and practice court, but in the games. Also, for me to understand my role on this team and to find a way to help not only myself, but the team, to be a good as we can be. The complicated part is that it changes at times and I'm getting used to that.
I love the game of basketball. It is not only who I am, but it is what I was put on this earth to do. Through basketball, I can do so may other things, but until that time that I'm done, there is nothing that I think about more…(other than God) than the game. So I just have to keep being aggressive, continue molding my game, and stay faithful that I will be given an opportunity to stay a part of this team for a long time, so that I may grow up both on and off the court with a class-act team and be a part of one of the greatest assembled teams in the history of the NBA in the future.